Hey
by Summers-Wind
Summary: Four years in the future, Rachel and Jesse are at an audition NEXT TO NORMAL audition, and for the first time in her life, Rachel is left speechless.


Hey

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_Glee_**, I don't own**_ Next To Normal_**, or anything really, in all their epicness.**

_Prelude I: _

_Jennifer Damiano, who plays Natalie in _**Next To Normal**_, was originally cast as the understudy for Wendla, Lea Michele's character in _**Spring Awakening**_. I'm a HUGE _**Next To Normal **_fan, so this is kind of what came of that._

_Prelude II:_

_Four years in the future, Rachel has her first Broadway role, her first time being speechless, and her first meeting with a certain guy since he broke her heart- all on the same day..._

Rachel's first Broadway role is in the new rock opera _Next To Normal_. The girl who was playing Natalie, Rachel's character, had left after the second stage production, allowing Rachel to take over after she had been cast. Rachel went through four or five weekends of callbacks, as she helped develop the character. The producers were going to give her the role basically without a doubt, but they wanted to make sure that she would work along side of Henry, Natalie's love interest, so she spent half the callbacks auditioning with potential Henry's and the other half, getting a head-start on developing Natalie..

"Jesse?" Rachel gasped, as she saw who they paired her up with bright and early one Saturday morning.

Rachel blinked her eyes a few times, making sure that she was really seeing who she thought she was seeing, and that it wasn't just her lack of sleep catching up with her. It had been a long week, and a long night, as her Dad's were visiting her over the weekend.

"Rachel." Jesse was in as much shock as Rachel was, but he managed to keep his "showface" much better than she did.

"You two know each other?" The director asked.

Rachel grimaced, though only Jesse would see it. "Kind of."

"Yes!" Jesse replied, over confidently. His confidence made Rachel want to puke. She wasn't up for getting betrayed by him again, and this time, his career was in her hands.

The director clapped his hands together once and grinned. "Excellent!"

Rachel fidgeted with her hands, and Jesse didn't seem much more confident. The director didn't seem to pick up on their emotions- they had both spent significant time with Shelby Corcoran, after all- and she had the best show face of all.

"I'd like to see you run_ Hey #2_!" The director exclaimed, then called to the pianist. "Hey Alejandro, we're ready for you!"

The Spanish pianist, who was busy flipping through the score at the shiny, black, baby grand in the piano looked up. "Yes, sir!"

"Here's the sheet music." The director handed Jesse the sheet music. Rachel looked down at her copy of the papers in her hand. She didn't need- she could now sing the songs in her sleep.

Alejandro played the intro riff, and Jesse began by speaking a simple:

_Hey_

Rachel responded back with the same

**Hey**

Jesse proposed the next lines. He remembered high school and how he learned to cooly ask a girl out with confident persistence. He knew that Henry had persistence, but not as much as he had, so he went with it.

_So tomorrow's the dance,_

_It's annoying I know_

_But let's go._

Rachel couldn't help but remember how much Jesse had broken her heart when he cracked the egg on her head and left to re-join Vocal Adrenaline. She put all of her hate about that experience into her next lines.

**Not a chance.**

Jesse was now in the submissive spot, and both he and Rachel knew it. Is was awkward for both of them. He had to play the underdog and he had sunken so low, he now had to beg to get the role.

_Let me know you again._

Rachel wasn't going to forgive him that easily.

**Not right now.**

Jesse was going to try. If he wasn't going to get the role, it wouldn't be from lack of trying.

_Ok, when?_

_Say wait and I'll wait_.

The next lines would be sung at the same time. They didn't quite get the timing right on their first lines in the verse, but by their second lines, their voices would be meshing perfectly. Just like old times.

**It's already too late.**

_Hey, hey!_

**Will you listen?**

_La, la, la, la_

**Just shut up and listen.**

Soon as Rachel heard Jesse's next lines, a sour taste came into her mouth. She suddenly felt like her and Jesse's roles were reversed. She felt more like Henry, and she thought that Jesse was more like Natalie.

T_here's no way it's too late._

_There's no way_

_I stayed by your side._

Jesse begged.

_Why do I get denied?_

Rachel began to think about things from Jesse's perspective. She knew that Vocal Adrenaline kids were not known for being nice. She knew that their worlds were over the second that they lost a competition. She knew that many kids, including Jesse, had their scholarships on the line.

**You remind me of me.**

**And how fucked up I can be.**

It was time for Jesse to beg again. Briefly, Rachel thought of a time when Jesse would ask her out on a date again, though she didn't dare linger on the thought. She couldn't take another heartbreak from the guy.

_Ok, hey._

_Let's start over, clean slate._

_I'll come by here at 8._

_If you show then we'll go._

_If you don't, well we'll see._

Rachel shook her head. She didn't want to give into Jesse's begging that easily. She put all of that into her version of Natalie.

**You just don't give up.**

Jesse decided to give one more try at begging. He didn't think that he could take another rejection from audition, especially after he had gotten this far. Vocal Adrenaline had prepared him for brutal honesty, UCLA had prepared him technically for 2 years, and now that he was a starving student at NYU, he didn't know what he was going to do. He was a long way from the Jesse that he used to be, and he wanted to tell Rachel that.

_So don't give up on me._

Rachel, on the other hand, didn't know this. And she was done with heartbreak. Done with Puck, done with Finn, and most definitely done with Jesse St. James...

**Goodbye**

Or so she thought.

**Hen-ry.**

The director stood between them, but back several steps. His mouth was agape. "RACHEL, DARLING! Why didn't you tell me that you had such _perfect_ chemistry with someone! I would have called him _weeks_ ago! He would have made these past few weeks _SO_ much easier!"

And for once, Rachel was at a loss for words.


End file.
